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Exchange of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)across inland water surfaces is an important component of the terrestrial carbon (C) balance. We investigated the fluxes of these two gases across the surface of oligotrophic Lake Stechlin using a floating chamber approach. The normalized gas transfer rate for CH4 (k600,CH4) was on average 2.5 times higher than that for CO2 (k600,CO2) and consequently higher than Fickian transport. Because of its low solubility relative to CO2, the enhanced CH4 flux is possibly explained by the presence of microbubbles in the lake’s surface layer. These microbubbles may originate from atmospheric bubble entrainment or gas supersaturation (i.e., O2) or both. Irrespective of the source, we determined that an average of 145 L m−2 d−1 of gas is required to exit the surface layer via microbubbles to produce the observed elevated k600,CH4. As k600 values are used to estimate CH4 pathways in aquatic systems, the presence of microbubbles could alter the resulting CH4 and perhaps C balances. These microbubbles will also affect the surface fluxes of other sparingly soluble gases in inland waters, including O2 and N2

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Rising northern hemispheric mean air temperatures reduce the amount of winter lake ice. These changes in lake ice cover must be understood in terms of resulting effects on lake ecosystems. Accurate predictions of lake ice phenology are essential to assess resulting impact. We applied the one-dimensional physical lake model FLake to analyse past variability in ice cover timing, intensity and duration of Berlin-Brandenburg lakes. The observed ice phenology in two lakes in the period 1961-2007 was reconstructed by FLake reasonably well and with higher accuracy than by state-of-the-art linear regression models. Additional modelling results of FLake for 38 Berlin-Brandenburg lakes, observed in the winter of 2008/09, were quite satisfactory and adequately reproduced the effects of varying lake morphology and trophic state. Observations and model results showed that deeper and clearer lakes had more ice-free winters, later ice cover freezing and earlier ice cover thawing dates, resulting in shorter ice-covered periods and fewer ice-covered days than shallow and less clear lakes. The 1947-2007 model hindcasts were implemented using FLake for eight Berlin-Brandenburg lakes without ice phenology observations. Results demonstrated past trends of later ice start and earlier ice end, shorter ice cover duration and an increase in ice-free winters. AbbreviationsSD ice start date ED ice end date ND number of ice days per winter ID ice duration IFW ice-free winters Ta air temperature NAO-I North Atlantic Oscillation-Index Climatic Change (2012) 112:791-817

This paper examines a variety of recirculation flow patterns that develop in the groyne fields on rivers. A comprehensive data set was obtained from flume experiments at Delft University of Technology and field measurements performed on the Elbe River in Germany. The analysis focuses on patterns of velocity, scour and deposition, and corresponding change of riverbed morphology. The results show that velocity patterns in the groyne fields depend mainly on the aspect ratio between groyne length and length of groyne field. When the aspect ratio is greater than 0Ð5, a one-gyre pattern of recirculation develops, while at groyne fields with aspect ratios less than 0Ð5 a two-gyre recirculation pattern emerges. The spatial distribution of fine-sediment deposition between the groynes coincides with the locations of gyres. Moreover, the thickness of the fine-sediment layer decreases toward the gyre margins where recirculation velocities are greatest. Although the total concentration of suspended sediment in the river does not change considerably as the flow moves through the groyne field, the biological and gravimetrical composition of the suspended material changes substantially within the groyne field. These changes are due to preferential deposition of coarse mineral particles and the replacement of those minerals with finer organic material.